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Getting Control of Your Website With CMS Technology

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Want to be able to update your website without needing to hand over unnecessary dollars to your developers? You already should be! Aaron Darc explains how CMS technology is often online marketing’s best kept secret…

I’ve been creating commercial websites for over seven years, now. I’ve seen the digital marketing boom finally explode. The agency slogan of businesses needing to have an online presence is no longer a slogan – it’s a blatant reality. You’d never suggest any more that a business could be a serious contender without a website, no matter how big or small that business is. Technology has been the driving force behind this – as technology has rapidly developed, affordability has moved at lightning speed with it, allowing us to do more and more things online for less and less (both for the consumers who engage online and the businesses creating that engagement). In some ways, this has created greater opportunities for the online marketing and advertising industry – it’s certainly generated more clients – but this industry has been rather sneaky in the way it has kept some of the dollars it should no longer be privy to, by conveniently keeping some of the advances in technology away from their client base. Technology is all about control – and businesses can have more control of their online presence than ever before. But to many digital agencies, the more control you’re getting means less money they’re getting. Because as long as they have the control, they have the keys to your website. If you’ve already got a website, you need to know that you should be the ones holding the keys. And if you’re about to get a new website, or even your first, you need to make sure you get a deal that doesn’t put those keys in the wrong hands.

I’ve seen it, time and time again. A client has a website for a business that, as most businesses do, changes from time to time: new products are added, specials and sales are created during certain periods, or even something as simple as a change of phone number comes up. The website, now being the central experience for most consumers, needs to reflect this – the change needs to happen, first and foremost, online. But what do you do if you need to make a change? Can you do this, yourself? Or do you need to ring your developers or designers, and have them do it for you? If you’re the latter, you’re going to have to pay for this change – often, through the nose, for something as simple as a change of contact detail. And what’s the turnaround going to be? If you need to get info across short-notice – let’s say you have a downturn weekend, and you’d like to get rid of some rooms at special prices – how quick can your developers respond to this? And will they then take the opportunity to charge you even more for this short-notice? Probably. Because… well…. kaching, as they say. You’ve probably heard that noise before – faintly, echoing in the background, while you’re on the phone to your developer, asking if the change to your website can be made – and I’ll be blunt… it’s the sound of your lack of technical expertise being exploited. And unless your site needs to be a static flash-based design (it does have its purpose in some instances, but only in rare cases) then it’s a totally unnecessary exploitation in 2010, and all thanks to CMS technology.

CMS stands for “Content Management System” – it’s basically a “type” of website. The irony of CMS is that you don’t have to understand exactly how the system works from a technical perspective, because that’s precisely the technology’s point – that the end result is a website that a user can run and create themselves, without needing to understand the technical ins and outs. But, in a nutshell, CMS is a structure or a system, whereby the design of your site is placed over this system, as if fitting an exterior over a car. Part of this system is a user control panel – it’s the steering wheel of your site. You probably don’t understand completely how cars operate – you couldn’t build one, yourself – but you can drive a car without needing to understand every aspect of it. And CMS is the same. This control panel lets you effectively steer the website yourself – adding content, deleting content, creating new pages, pretty much whatever you need within the basic framework of the existing design.

So, how easy is it? This user panel means that creating new content is much like writing a word document or an email – or for those who use social media, like creating your facebook page. At Christmas, the younger members of my family took it upon themselves to teach my mother how to use an iphone. They tried, and they tried, but to no avail. She might as well have been trying to read a Jane Austin novel in Spanish – a language she doesn’t understand at all. In the end, quite frustrated, she gave up.

“But it’s easy – everyone can use them!” my (teenage) cousin laughed.

But it’s not easy to a generation who have not grown up with this kind of technology, and that’s the basic reality in the gap that still alienates business owners faced with competing in the online world. However, my mother has no problems updating her website through the CMS control panel. She might not be familiar with smartphone technology, but she has been writing documents and emails for the last fifteen years of her working life. That’s all it takes to use these websites. At HOM, each client gets a free training session with their new CMS, and I’ve never seen this go for any longer than half an hour. Any of our clients can call whenever they hit any potholes or problems, and we might get the odd cry for help in the week following; but I’ve never come across a single client who can’t grasp CMS within the first week of using their new website. And I’ve never seen a single client who wasn’t grinning, ear to ear, from finally having control of their own business online! Which is a nice change to the scene where, sure, the agency is grinning – but the client is grimacing, waiting for that ridiculous invoice to arrive!

To see the CMS in action, watch this demo…

BEWARE THE MYTHS!

There’s a good chance, however, that some of you have heard various explanations – excuses, really – as to why CMS technology is not the best option for your online business. These are often generated by the agencies themselves (go figure), or are simply lingering truths that were truths, once upon a time, but have yet caught up to current technological advances in CMS. Remember: what was not possible in the online world yesterday is usually possible today! So, let’s address a couple of the most common untruths about contemporary CMS website development.

Myth 1: CMS Systems are limited in terms of the design integrated with them.

Wrong. If you’re being offered a CMS system that has limitations with the design of your site, you’re not being offered a custom made system, but offered a pre-developed template. This saves your developers money, for obvious reasons, but it has little benefit to you. In these template CMS systems, the design structure is already created – you can choose images, logos, text, colours, etc, but they must be placed on an already determined layout. This will not only constrict your design, but you’ll end up with a site that essentially looks exactly the same as thousands of other sites… because it is. Correctly priced, these template CMS websites are extremely cheap – but there’s a reason for that – they offer much less than any other style of web development. Many agencies are quite fond of them, considering the labour time they save without any need for custom development; but this can lead to clients effectively being mislead, not understanding the simplicity and inferiority of these systems for the price their paying. Make sure you know what you’re getting – and that you’re getting an exclusively developed CMS website, integrated with unrestricted design.

Myth 2: CMS Systems offer poorer security and can leave your website open to being hacked.

Wrong again. Security issues with CMS systems only arise when you’re using an external system, large enough to warrant the attention of people bored enough to spend their time figuring out how to buck these systems – and even this is realistically a rare occurrence. As it is, these external CMS systems are again offering restrictions in customisation – so they have their own problems for a variety of reasons, anyway – but so long as you’re being connected to major CMS systems (such as WordPress, etc) you’re opening yourself up to every problem WordPress encounter. It’s very similar to the difference in security between Apple and Microsoft. What is the main reason why Apple computers are not subject to the same virus and spyware that Microsoft is? It’s because Apple ultimately has too little share of the market, so the hackers spend all their time targeting Microsoft, because they will ultimately wreak havoc on the most people. Using an exclusive custom made system takes you out of this firing line. Any other security issue is up to your developers – there are no excuses for your system not having the correct security systems in place.

Myth 3: Upgrading your existing site to a CMS system is too expensive, because it requires the entire site to be redone.

Not at all! If you’ve got an existing website that you’re happy with, as far as design and layout goes, but you’d like to have the control over this website that a CMS can give you, don’t be fooled into thinking this requires the dollars of a completely new website contract. The existing design of your website can easily be transferred to a new CMS system. Hotel Online Marketing will create a new version of your site on their exclusive CMS system, without incurring standard design costs of a brand new website! When you offset this development cost against being able to control a website that can instantly respond to your businesses needs – the very minute they arise – you’re not just saving money in the long run…. you’re making it!

Want a CMS?

So, if there’s a change you’d like to make to your website, but the cost of having your people change it is stopping you, ask yourself this: should the marketing and profits of your business be in the hands of another business who has effectively managed to take control of such a major part of your what offer and do? No. And if you’re not being told how this situation could change, why do you suppose that is?

Well, there’s the sound of those kachings again. Nothing wrong with the sounds of cash registers – but just make sure some of them are yours! Hotel Online Marketing now offer the most innovative and user-friendly custom CMS system within a very friendly budget spectrum. The customisation of this system means that no two contracts are the same – because no two websites should be the same – so if you’re thinking of making the move into the latest CMS technology and having an online business that is truly your own, give Sophie a call on (02) 90370393 and discuss how CMS can work with your particular needs. It’s your business. It should be your website, too.

by Aaron Darc

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Utilising SEO For Your Hotel

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

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Aaron Darc explains the often bewildering world of Search Engine Optimisation and why your hotel is losing customers without it…

OK, so your new website makes the hotel down the street green with envy. It looks beautiful, it works like a dream – you’re sitting there waiting for your new customers to come flooding in. Here they come! Any minute now. Won’t they?

The question is quantity of traffic (how many people come to your website) and the quality of that traffic (that those people are potential conversions, because your website is offering what they’re looking for). Good looking websites that offer a breadth of information and capability convert traffic to sales, but aesthetic and functionality do nothing alone to create traffic. Without the right elements in place to achieve both these tasks (the creation and conversion of traffic) your website isn’t doing enough.

Getting the best traffic flow is the art of Search Engine Optimisation. This is a relatively recent development of the online world, one that many business owners with a commercial online presence still don’t understand and, therefore, address. It rose to prominence for two main reasons: the rise of the search engine in collective online behaviour, and the evolution of major search engines in response to this.

So, just how important is the search engine to the modern cyberworld? We all know of Google, right? The importance of appeasing the search engine is no better proved than the simple fact that Google is such a powerhouse in the online world, one of the true kings, worth astronomical amounts and wielding power that can have major cultural, and even political, impact. And what is Google? The world’s most popular search engine.

This means that it is effectively the portal that users’ online experiences begin with. Because of the hierarchical nature of the search engine (answering queries with a list of options) combined with user behaviour (to select the options at the top of this list), how Google creates these lists, and, more importantly, who makes it to the top, has a major impact on site traffic. For the world of commercial websites – looking to convert traffic to sales – the importance of this is obvious. Recent statistics show that modern consumers are making over 60% of purchases online, and that over 85% of these sales originate from a search engine result. It’s little wonder that Google holds such importance for the commercial and corporate world!

The Search Engine & The Hotel Industry

Within these statistics, some businesses and products suit search engine behaviour more than others. People still rarely use search engines to find and purchase grocery items, as we still consider a trip to the supermarket to be the easiest solution to making a large range of weekly purchases. However, for the hotel industry, the reverse happens, and consumers are more likely to prepare and purchase holidays online. Recent statistics show that a staggering 90% of bookings for hotels that have an online presence have included the website at some stage of the consumer’s journey to point of sale. This is largely because it allows consumers to easily compare different hotels, and explore businesses that are logically located far away. It also means not having to pay for long distance phonecalls, combined with the general convenience consumers find in evaluating businesses without having to engage in actual human interaction (where they feel they will be unduly pressured to purchase). The hotel website is a favourite way to find the perfect accommodation, and for good reason.

Furthermore, the search engine is also perfect for finding the choices available, as most people tend to travel to locations they haven’t been, meaning they are more than likely to be completely unaware of the hotels in the area. Most search engine results that lead to accommodation bookings are based on location searches (for example, “hotels Grafton”, or more specific searches like “hotels Sydney near harbour”). The search engine is a great way to find out exactly what hotels are available – meaning that getting on those search results is crucial.

Google will eventually index most sites, but being on search engine results means little, if you’re site is sitting on page 6. In fact, only 15% of users in a recent Google survey said they look any further than page 3 of search results. So how do you get your website onto those first three pages, and under the keen eyes of travelers?

This actually changes constantly. Google uses a complex algorithm to convert a search term into results, endeavouring to find what sites most suit the query, and then listing them in what it considers most relevant to the user. This algorithm is constantly refined, resulting in an ever-changing series of factors that can be appeased and manipulated by those who understand and follow the formula of SEO.

This includes understanding the placement of search terms, embedded within copy, and understanding what search terms will yield the best results. But it also extends to the actual development and functionality of the site. There are over ten major techniques and elements the best SEO experts will apply to a website in order to get the site into those high rankings and big dollars. Too many business owners overlook SEO in their websites, simply because they feel overwhelmed or alienated from the technical world of the search engine. They do so to their own misfortune.

Organic versus Paid Search results

Needless to say, the search engines themselves have seen dollar signs in the commercial quest to be on the top of search results pages. This has led many of them – particularly, Google – to offer paid advertising placements at the top of search results pages called “Sponsored Links”. This term in itself is a deliberately ambiguous one, as it knows that users increasingly dislike and mistrust the commercialisation of the online world, and are looking for organically generated results. It is for this reasons that although sponsored links will certainly provide some increase in traffic, they are increasingly less effective than organic results (those that are open to SEO) with only 30% of users opting for paid results, and nearly all of those users also comparing these results to organic ones anyway. Not to mention that paid result placement is also incredibly expensive! If your only effort to utilise SEO is to simply pay for search engine placements, you’re not really utilising SEO at all – and you’re not getting the most for your money.

Hotel Online Marketing SEO Services

Hotel Online Marketing understands the complex world of the search engine. In fact, it’s founder and Managing Director, Sophie Constanti, is herself an SEO guru. She knows the importance of SEO in all facets of online marketing, which is why she has chosen a team who can all inject this sensibility into their work – whether designing, writing or developing commercial websites.

Because many sites were either created with now outdated SEO principles, or never had SEO applied to them in the first place, those who already have a website can save dollars by simply having their site SEO reviewed and altered, without needing to purchase a new site altogether. Talk to HOM today about your site and how it can rise in the rankings of major search engines, generating up to double the business you’re getting today! And if you’re thinking of getting a new website, HOM will work with you to make sure your site is purposefully SEO developed.

Better still, HOM will combine their SEO knowledge with sound marketing strategy. Many agencies claim to optimise your site for search engines, but are often cheating – using shortcuts to generate higher quantities of traffic, without worrying about the conversion of that traffic to bookings. SEO is not just about higher traffic rates, but, with the increasing developments in SEO practice, can now target quality of traffic. What would you rather? 1000 hits from a search engine result with 20 bookings converted, or 500 hits with 300 conversions? Using the search engine to target specific and relevant markets is vital to truly getting the best you can. HOM keep their eye on the end prize, and know how to achieve it.

Call Hotel Online Marketing today on (02) 9007 2453 and speak to Sophie about getting your site seen by the people who need to see it!

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Case Study: The Value of Good Design

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

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Does every business need a well-designed website? At HOM we believe the answer is ‘Absolutely!’ Not only does a good website help improve people’s perception of your business, it can also increase your conversion SUBSTANTIALLY and in turn your ONLINE REVENUE.  Canberra South Motor Park (CSMP) is one of our latest clients and is already increasing revenue directly through their brand spanking new website; we aren’t called Hotel Online Marketing for no reason! In this article, we have dissected the elements of CSMP’s previous and curent website as we explore the value of good design. And remember, HOM can make your website work in much the same way, so give us a buzz today!


1. Including a Call to Action
CSMP previously lumped all their accommodation options on one page and only provided a phone number (at the bottom of the page). By making individual modules, each with more details and specific booking options, we’ve simplified the process, increasing the likelihood of conversion.


2. Utilise Imagery
Previously, CSMP’s website contained small thumbnails of their property, but the images did not correlate with any specific descriptions. Moreover, their low quality gave the impression that the property was lacklustre. By using high quality images with text descriptions, we made the images useful to website visitors and brought the merits of the property to the forefront. Additionally, by adding a dynamic fading gallery to the top of every page, visitors discover aspects of the property they hadn’t considered.


3. Make Text, Text!
A big problem many websites have is they have text descriptions which have been converted into images. Such text cannot be copied into a word processor (such as Word) for printing. It also makes it is almost impossible to find such content via search engines (such as Google). We have used text specifically to encourage visitors to firstly find and then interact with CSMP’s content.
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4. Utilise Colour
CSMP’s previous colour scheme was garrish and visually distracting. It also did not assist visitors in focussing on the site’s content. Our classy yet subtle colour scheme gives CSMP a fresh visual identity whilst also bringing images and text in focus.


5. Use Space Effectively
CSMP’s previous layout made poor use of the space available in a web browser. We have optimised their new site to maximise this space, whilst remaining suitable for viewing on computers which may have smaller displays. We also made sure to give content room to breathe.

Do’s and Dont’s

Provide a clear call to action Forgetting to include a call to action
Use high-resolution, emotive images Use dull, low quality, small images
Encourage interactivity by using text Having an overly static site
Use colour for a strong identity Not presenting a clear identity
Utilise screen real estate Wasting space or packing too much information into too small a space.
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Canberra South Motor Park by HOM

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

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Canberra South Motor Park came to HOM needing to ”update their website” and to be able to update it THEMSELVES whenever they required. Our designers gave CSMP a fresh look and feel and our developers integrated our content management system giving CSMP the ability to change virtually any element of their site.

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HW Motel by HOM

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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Quality HW Boutique Motel was recently redesigned by HOM with a fresh look, user friendly navigation and with effective search engine optimisation which had HW ranking on page 1 and 2 within a week of the new site going live. The new design and search engine optimisation has helped to increase conversion and therefore successfully increased online bookings by 130%!

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Usability Drives Bookings

Monday, October 26, 2009

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“Major structural shifts are underway in the hospitality industry. According to a recent study conducted by Merrill Lynch, online bookings as a share of total reservations increased from 30% in 2006 to 40% in 2008. The same study projects that 45% of hotel bookings will be made online by the year 2010.1 As Q1 2009 iPerceptions Hospitality Industry Report demonstrates, booking is the leading preoccupation of hotel website visitors. In this way, hospitality websites face a basket of challenges not dissimilar to main¬line e-commerce sites: optimizing the transactional experience for visitors who are onsite to book and ensuring that researchers and rate shoppers are efficiently shepherded down the booking funnel.

At the same time as the web is morphing the traditional relationship between hotel and patron, eco¬nomic jitters pose a systemic challenge to the industry. Industry analysts expect a measurable slowdown in travel this year, as both business and leisure consumers forego travel plans to save money. Snapshot data shows that year-over-year industry occupancy rates fell 12.3% in the calendar week March 22 to March 28.2 Looking ahead, those who do travel will no doubt change their booking habits – specifically, they will wait until the last minute to book in order to obtain the best prices, combing through the online brokerage sites to shave valuable dollars off room rates. Cost sensitivity is already having a negative impact on hospitality website satisfaction scores. In Q1 2009, the two weakest attributes in the sector—Bottom Line and Starting Point—pertained directly to price and perceived sense of value.

When we slice the hospitality website visitor base by primary intent, we find some disquieting task com¬pletion data, which elucidates the high-level trends being written about by analysts in the field. Only 51% of bookers were capable of completing their tasks. While some of the reasons underpinning this low rate might have been outside the purview of the web experience, significant numbers of bookers reported problems with site navigation, the booking flow, and insufficient hotel/room information, all of which fall squarely on the plate of interactive marketers and website developers.

To counteract this, hotel websites will need to focus on better engaging and persuading visitors at incipi¬ent stages of the booking cycle. As the data shows, one in two visitors were onsite for the first time and thus not acclimated to site navigation, architecture, and functionality. Hotel websites struggled to effectively cater to this segment, as evidenced by their collective iPerceptions Satisfaction Index score of 6.85, starkly lower than the score of 7.51 posted by the most frequent visitors. To boost their efficiency in a troubled economic climate, hotel websites will need to focus on delivering simpler, more intuitive site navigation, a streamlined booking process, and more robust content, supplemented with better pictures and more lifelike virtual tours”

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The team at Hotel Online Marketing understand hotel websites and all our clients report a substantial increase in conversion and therefore ONLINE BOOKINGS.  Hotel Online Marketing is a specialist Internet marketing service, catering exclusively to the hotel industry. Put simply, we do online marketing for hotels. And we don’t do anything else. We help your target traveller find your website, we help you convert them into customers when they do, and we help you keep them coming back.

Call us today!

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